The fatal shooting of a 24-year-old man, whose body was left to be run over by a train last week, was the city’s first murder this year, according to law enforcement authorities.

The death of Edwin Rivera, and the resulting arrest of Flavio Daveiga, was also the first murder in the city since 2010, the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office said.

Compared to homicide figures over past decade, the last few years have seen a relatively low murder rate in Taunton.

There have been 19 murders in Taunton over the last 10 years, giving the city a murder rate of approximately 3.38 murders for every 100,000 people during that period (the standard murder rate calculation is based on a population base of 100,000), according to previous Gazette reports and statistics published by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

However, the number of murders decreased somewhat in Taunton over the past five years, when there have been six murders, with a murder rate of 2.1 per 100,000.

The murder of Rivera, found dead with two bullets in him after a CSX train ran over his body near Cushman Street, was the first homicide case in the city since three years ago. On Aug. 21, 2010, Francis Douglas Carreiro, 59, was found dead at his Second Avenue home. His son-in-law, Richard Carreiro-Forbes, was charged with murder a few weeks later. During the same year, 17-year-old Tigan Hollingsworth was stabbed to death in a backyard near Grampy’s convenience store on June 25. And just a few weeks after that Joseph E. Dugan, 33, was killed by a single bullet to the back of his head outside his Granite Street home.

As far as the Rivera case, Bristol County District Attorney Sam Sutter’s office had no new details to release about the investigation, or any information regarding if others could be charged.

Rivera was initially reported to have been hit by a train last Monday night, but an autopsy revealed that he died from two gunshots wounds, Investigators declared the death a homicide before arresting Daveiga. The 21-year-old Daveiga was ordered held on $2 million cash bail and is scheduled to appear in court today for an appointment of counsel hearing.

Daveiga was not charged with murder at his arraignment. Instead, he was charged with being an accessory to murder before the fact and violating the witness intimidation statute, Bristol District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter’s office said in a statement. No others have been charged in the case. Sutter’s office said the homicide remains under investigation.

“The investigation is active and ongoing and any new developments will be shared as appropriate,” said Ashley Bendiksen, a spokeswoman for the DA’s office.

The DA’s office released a separate statement that said, “If more arrests are made or more charges are lodged, this office will send out a follow-up press release.”

Page 2 of 2 - Taunton Mayor Thomas Hoye Jr. said even though this is the city's first murder case since 2010, one murder is too many for any year.

“It’s unfortunate,” Hoye said. “We continue to work each day to strive to make Taunton a safer community. I think our police department is very aggressive. They’ve done a good job getting people off the street.”

Hoye said the city government is working to increase the community’s “short-staffed” police force. Asked to comment on the murder rate in recent years, Hoye said the Taunton Police Department and the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office should be commended for their work.

“The DA is very aggressive with dangerousness hearings and his stance on gun violence and drug traffic,” Hoye said. “Unfortunately, there remains those people who make very poor decisions and we have to continue to make strides in getting those folks off the street as well.”

Nearby Fall River has had zero murders so far this year. Fall River had two murders during each of the previous years (a murder rate of 2.2 for each year), with five murders in 2010 (5.6). Over the last 10 years, with 28 total murders, Fall River’s murder rate averages at 2.7 per 100,000 people.

“Throughout the calendar year, there have been zero homicides reported in Fall River,” said Fall River Mayor William Flanagan. “If we are able to close out the next 30 days of the calendar year, it’ll be the first time since the 1950s we have gone a year without a murder, I believe. Hopefully it’ll be a peaceful next 30 days.”

Taunton generally has a much lower murder rate than Boston, which had a murder rate of 10.1 per 100,000 residents in 2011 and 11.3 in 2010. Although in 2008 Taunton had a higher murder rate than Boston. That year Taunton had six murders and a 10.8 murder rate, compared to the 10.3 murder rate and 62 murders in Boston.